DA: Grandmother killed granddaughter before house fire was set

ALBANY — Jacqueline Sanders, 54, stabbed her 10-year-old grandson, Isaiah Gates, and killed her 6-year-old granddaughter Zakyria Sanders in her bed before setting her West Doublegate home on fire Wednesday, leading to her own death and that of another grandson, Jaylan Barr, 7, according to Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards.

At a news conference Thursday, Edwards said Isaiah, who survived the assault, was found stuffed in the trunk of a car in the garage at the 2718 W. Doublegate Drive residence with multiple lacerations to his back and neck. He had been in the trunk about 12 hours before he was found by authorities.

“Regarding the incidents that took place Aug. 3, 2016 at 2718 West Doublegate Drive, three persons are deceased as a result of the circumstances of this particular matter,” said Edwards. “At this point, based on all of the information that we have in the forensic findings, we are able to make some determinations about what happened.

“There were three deaths. The three persons that are deceased are Zakyria Sanders, age 6; Jaylan Barr, age 7, and also Jacqueline Sanders, age 54. There was a survivor from the circumstance, Isaiah Gates, age 10.”

According to Edwards, all of the evidence suggests that Jacqueline Sanders was responsible for Zakyria Sanders’ death before she set the fire. Both Jacqueline Sanders and Jaylan were found unresponsive near the back door and later died at a local hospital.

“The survivor of this incident, Isaiah Gates, was also apparently victimized,” said Edwards.

A mental health issue — some form of schizophrenia — was apparently the “catalyst” that led to the incident, according to Edwards.

“Apparently her (Sanders) mental health issues were exacerbated by failing to take appropriate medications,” the district attorney said. “As a result of her relapse, she (Sanders) accosted first Isaiah Gates, who is age 10. He was apparently assaulted by Sanders, slashed several times with a sharp instrument — a knife that has been recovered — and was forced into the trunk of a car located at the residence.

“Apparently, after that happened she (Sanders) set about attacking Zakyria, stabbing her to death. Also at the location, a fire was ignited. I don’t have particular information about the means of starting the fire, but it was an intentional fire.”

According to Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler, the other deceased child, Jaylan Barr, showed no signs of trauma and apparently was not attacked.

“After the autopsy, we found no injuries to the body of Jaylan,” said Fowler. “Now we are waiting on toxicology to see the CO (carbon monoxide) level.”

“We can not ascribe that Jaylan Barr was assaulted by Jacqueline Sanders in this circumstance,” said Edwards. “But again, as the coroner has indicated, she contributed to his death by keeping him inside the house and preventing him from leaving.”

According to Fowler, Sanders died around 8:05 a.m. Thursday at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

“Her cause of death, right now, looks like smoke and soot inhalation,” said Fowler. “Also, the CO levels were kind of high.”

Isaiah, the only survivor of the incident, once treated for his injuries, gave investigators as many details as he could about the timeframe of the attack, murder and fire.

“The information that was provided by the survivor, Isaiah Gates, was that Sanders, their grandmother, began to have some erratic behavior around 10 p.m., after (Isaiah’s) father, Alton Sanders, left to go to work,” said Edwards. “(Isaiah) describes that she was acting erratically. He was in the master bedroom when she came in and accosted him. He represents that he was attacked and beaten. He was taken first into a bathroom, was beaten there and then was slashed with a knife and some other instrument. The GBI recovered both of the instruments that were alleged to have been used in the homicide and in the attack on Isaiah Gates. His testimony about what happened is corroborated by the forensic evidence.

“He says that after he was beaten and slashed, that he was forced into the trunk of the vehicle and he, in fact, remained there, even though there were other personnel, EMTs and other personnel, who were there as first responders. He was still afraid and did not get out or let anyone know that he was still in the trunk. He had been there for some period of time, beginning at approximately 10 p.m. The first responders got their call at about 6:20 a.m. I was there along with the coroner and, certainly, Isaiah was in the trunk of the vehicle while all of us were there. We had gotten a search warrant to search the vehicle, which is protocol, and when the vehicle was opened, he was found.”

Edwards indicated that investigators believe that the murder of Zakyria took place before the ignition of the fire.

According to officials, the family had moved into the neighborhood last December.

“The information that we have is that Sanders lived in West Palm Beach, Florida,” said Edwards. “The owner of the home, her son (Alton Sanders), had moved in sometime in December of 2015. They had not been there very long. The information that we have about her (Sanders’) arrival is that she got there in June, and she brought with her Jaylan Barr, who is her grandson. Zakyria was already residing there, and Isaiah was there for the summer as well.”

Officials said Sanders started the fire on her bed after stabbing Zakyria.

No charges are expected to be filed because of Jacqueline Sanders’ death, Edwards said.